This is an almost exact copy of the story I did back at PBG. One or two lines have been removed, repaired, or reworded.

ALL characters that are named are from the old Pumpkin Bread Gaming server, except Father Grigori.

Oh, and by the way, I might do a Vort story here if I'm ever bored again. Peace off... Boop!

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Chapter 1:

All of a sudden the a huge blow horn is heard from the Citadel's direction.
"What the hell!" They the door knocks.
"Oh, crap! Your not getting me!" The apartment door knocks louder. The hinges are starting to lose their grip. Finally the door hits the floor with such force, the dust on the floors gets wiped off.
"Dion! Come with me, now!" All I saw was a blur in the dust but I thought I would be getting the hell out of this crap hole.

"Catch, you'll need this." The mysterious person tossed me an Sub-machine gun.
Two Cops came through the door with the rush of a cheetah after it's prey. The dust was lowering and I got a glimpse at his face. I knew that sight anywhere, John Ashton. The bastard was nowhere to be seen after I lost him during that discovery of our camp.

The ops were coming by the dozen and we were running out of ammo, a blue beam came through the window and was moving slowly to the Cops. Bullets were flying through heads and walls.
Through John's radio a voice came. "Yipee kaiyay mother humper!"
"You sneaky minx!" John replied.
"You got him?"
"Yeah, but we got a little party going on and it's getting ugly."

"Shit!" One of the Cops hollered. A grenade came from the back door.
"Cover!" A random rebel yelled. The beeping progressed and it finally came and blew the spines out of a hell of a lot of Cops.
"Upstairs!" John shouted.
Me and a couple of rebels started going upstairs. I stopped.
"John, you coming?"
"Go on, I'll finish things here." I believed him and went up. There was a door and it was locked.
"Move!" A female Rebel hollered. She shot the door's lock.
"Mikey!" She shouted. All of a sudden a guy ran and kicked the door with the might of a lion.

Chapter 2:

We were out. The streets were in panic.
"We have to go, now!" That girl said and so we ran.
"Get into the sewers." There was an open manhole and so I thought this day couldn't get much worse, so I did.
Climbing down was as much an assault on my nose as it was the rest of me.
"We're almost there so you don't have to take the smell much longer."
"Good." I replied.

I was starting to wonder where 'there' actually was, but then we got 'there'. It was a small camp with a fridge, a few oil drums, a couple of sofas and a little pet carrier.
"What's the pet carrier for?"
"Zambaar."
"Who's Zambaar? A dog?"
"You could say that." I then heard a squeaking from the open sewer.
"That's him now." Said the girl. It wasn't anything I'd expect. Surprisingly, it was a headcrab. I didn't scream (Dion really did), it was only an animal of course.

"Oh my Jesus!" I yelled. "Quickly! The camp's been breached!"
"Don't worry, he's defanged and tame."
"What's your name anyways?"
"Selena, but you can call me Sasha." She then gave me a smile.
"Oh I'm Dio....." I then got interrupted.
"I know who you are, Dion McMillan, John said you were the main reason he survived."
"That's a little exaggerative." I acted a bit modest then, I didn't want to seem like a prick. The little headcrab squeaked with happiness and excitement, at me.
"He's a little excitable around new people." Sasha explained.
"Oh, he just like a puppy dog then?"
"Yeah." She then giggled a little.

Chapter 3:

The door opened up with a slightly cheerful girl coming out.
"Boom, headshot!" The girl yelled.
"Why so cheerful?" I asked.
"Did you see me out there?" She was starting to get really annoying.
"You were?"
"The sniper Duh! Hey, where's John?."
"John, didn't come back yet." Sasha added.
"Oh? Never mind then."
"What?! Never mind?!" I angrily butted in, quite rudely in-fact.
"Whoa, don't worry, he does his all the time." Sasha comforted me.

Then a panel in the floor just flew up with a small sound of gunfire beforehand. "I'm back, babies!" I don't think I made the best welcome home idea, I kicked him in the balls.
"The hell was that for! Oh, Dion......" He looked nervous.
"Why did you just find me and think I would comply completely with you?" I questioned. Sasha and the other girl were looking nervous. " Well you did, crap this hurts, stay with me out of the cities for so long."
"Never mind. Why did you bring me here anyways?" I replied.
"Well, John told us you were to be rescued." Sasha said.

But then the weird girl had to butt in with a immensely strange cry out of something that sounded like, "Booyeah!".
"What's your name anyways?" I just had to know the satirical name of this strange girl.
"I'm Emma, Emma Malone, Nice to meet you Dion." I was wondering all the time how a girl this hyper and, well, weird could have shot down 7 cops with 7 bullets in a sniper.
"So, I'm going to the armory, Dion come with me.

Chapter 4:

"So here's the many tools of our trade." John explained, cheesily.
"What can I get then?" I just had to ask.
"Hmmmm......how about? A shotgun, 3 grenades, an MP7, an AR2 and a 357. with speed reloader as standard?"
"Yes, please!" John just laughed and tossed me an AR2 and a 357. It was still bloody amazing! All of a sudden sirens starting going off, I didn't know whether these were ours or the Combine's.
"All units, we have a code blue. I repeat, we have a code blue!" He spoke through the radio and then explained to me, sort of.
"Lock and load, mate, this is going to get ugly!" John's so cheesy. There was grenades coming on through all the windows. "Get to cover!" He opened a closet and pushed me in and ran in after me. A loud bang was heard that made my ears ring. "For the love of god!" I shouted.

All of a sudden the whole place was alight with the sounds of bangs, gunfire and radio chatter. We slowly looked outside. I looked safe. We were wrong. The moment we got outside the claustrophobic space known as a closet, a Hunter crashed through the roof and set itself up for a charge. When it started the run we jumped and evaded it by the skin of our necks and it ran into the closet. We did a 'raptors in the kitchen' moment, as it hit the wall we closed the door after it, but of course it put up a fight. The strains were superhuman, John and I were feeling the forces in our guts. Eventually it recoiled in and we locked it. I knew it wouldn't hold it, but it was a temporary prison for it. John unslinged a shotgun from his back and loaded it. "Cocked, locked and ready to rock!" I joined him and unslinged my AR2. "We got ourselves a convoy you son of a bitch pile of monkey nuts!" I snickered after saying that.

Two OTAs crashed through the door. "Take this you arsehole!" I shouted. We blew the voices out of their lungs. "Arsehole?" John asked. "To you Yanks it would be, asshole." John had a slightly curious expression on his face. "No time for tea and crumpets, we got a base to save!" John yelled, he then radioed something. "Initiate code 1438b now."
"What's that?" I inquired. "Let's just say that anyone here won't be in cansas anymore." I looked shocked.
"You have 10 minutes John, get out while you still can." The radio vaguely received that message. The fight out was intense but at the final passage a hunter impeded us. "Don't worry I've got this one." He threw, to my disbelief, a rocket. it landed almost exactly underneath it. A single shot .came from him and the passage was alight. The hunter exploded in a flurry of synthetic blood and flames.

"You crazy?!" I argued.
"No." He replied. "I'm adventurous."

Chapter 5:

What the hell's John doing?! This route he's taking me on leads to Ravenholm! "Uhm.......John." I said to John nervously. "Do you know where this route leads?"
"Yeah, Ravenholm. We're going to meet an old friend of mine." He replied.
"Old friend? Didn't everyone become a zombie?"
"I know my mate's still alive. You seen the smoke coming from his direction? That's a distress call." he then smirked. "We're going to reply to his call, in a big way." I was nervous. "Anyway you need something a little bigger." He saw a downed OTA and unslinged the AR2 from his back. He tossed me it and I caught it. "Now that's a big ass gun." I checked the counter of ammo. It said 24 shells and 3 clips. There was also a yellow light up.
"What's the yellow light mean?" I asked John.
"That's a plasma shell. Vaporises anything it touches. Like..." He then clicked his fingers. "...That."

Chapter 6:

The night drew near. "We're getting close." John informed me. I could see the smoke John was talking about.
We walked inside and no contact. Down the street, no contact. "Grigori! You here?!" John yelled. All of a sudden a black blur jumped across two rooftops. "Shit!" I shouted.
"What is it, Dion?" John asked.
"It's one of.......them. It just jumped a roofto-" In a split second a fast zombie jumped from the rooftop, to the floor, and began to sprint right at us. "Contact!" John shouted. His clumsy shout started to bring other zombies but we didn't know. The zombie was abotu to leap then. BOOM! A flurry of blood and flesh went on the floor. "What the?" I nervously said.
"Brothers! The light may have found you but you havn't found the light. That is outside. You must leave. I shall take care of the infidels of the all powerful lord!"
"Grigori, I'm not leaving you this time!"
"John! Is that you, my Brother? Find your way inside but beware of the perils that have been bestowed at this place."


Chapter 7:

There was a fire blocking the path. Grigori was still there keeping the Zombies off us. "Grigori! Where's the propane?" John yelled.
"Brother, the question is not where is it but will you find it? I do not know the location of this but you, Brother, will indefinitely find the obstacle not letting you to your destination!" Grigori was a crackpot! For once he actually made a small bit of sense. I didn't know where to go but John did. "You see the Chapel? We're heading there."
"Why do we need to go there?" I replied.
"Because, that's the only way out of this hellhole."I kind of believed him, but there was still one thing bothering me. Why did we come here in the first place?"

"John?" I had actually pulled the nerve to ask him about this weird route. "Why have we gone down a weird route?"
"Dunno, just trying to keep moving. You don't want those bastards tracking us, do you?"
"No, never mind." I still have a suspicious feeling about this. Once again I wondered, why did we try to lose them on such a dangerous location?

I wish I never said anything later now.

Chapter 8:

I was near collapse. John was feeling the pressure. Those monsters were circling out of sight. "Dion.....Are you......alright?" John rasped in the last curdles of his breath.
".......I'm.....holding on." I replied in the same tone as John. All of a sudden calls were coming from all directions. They were slowly encroching us. "Dion, we have company." I was too tired to say anything. John then passed out. "Shit!" I yelled in the last cry of my breath before blackout.

The awakening was like coming from a hangover. My head hurt, my back ached and I had a massive headache. But the strange thing was that we weren't in Ravenholm anymore. It looked like we were underground. A sight of wonder had amazed me at this huge cavern lined with web. Then my amazment turned to horror. I look for John. I did eventually find him. He was stuck to the ceiling in agony with his stomach disembowled. I was disgusted, horrified and terrified. It was time for me to fend for myself. "Dion........" John was giving his last breaths. "Take.......this and.......get out." With his loose hand he reached to his back and pulled a crowbar and dropped in down to me. I caught it. "John, no! You can't die! How.....how will I get out of here!?"
"It's time to fend for your-" Then John's eyes closed and at that moment the thought engulfed my mind.

He's gone.


Chapter 9:

John's dead. I'm alone and I don't know where in god's name I am. There are few clues to the place where I am. I am indeffinately in a cavern, it is lined with webbing and there is a stench of human flesh. Then I saw a quite bright yellow light underneath the webbing at my feet. I dug through it to find a horrifying answer to my query. I was in an Antlion hive. The light was that of a glowing Antlion grub. I then remembered I had a crowbar in my hand and a massive anger surrounded my mind.. I lifted the crowbar and striked the grub with such force it exploded in a flurry of green blood. It was a bad idea to kill that grub. A huge screech came from 4 differant exits of the cavern. The fight for my life had begun.

Four antlion warriors emerged from the caverns and flew for me bearing their large teeth. "Shit!" I yelled. The warrior was jetting for me at a speed of a lion. I swung the crowbar and hit it. It fell into a pool of water and started to drown. "So, you can't take a bit of water?" This was my ticket out of this webbed crap. I tried to make them either fly in or to hit them in. I got two into it with the force of me alone. But there was one left and it didn't look like the others. It had a weird red patterning and a darker green shell. I managed to strike it in the abdomen with the sharp end of my crowbar. It flew off screaming.

I had to move. I was starting to swim through the pool when a larger roar came from the caverns. I got up onto the embank and was starting to tread carefully through the hive. I never could of anticipated what was about to happen. An Antlion Guardian crashed through the webbing, like a freight train through a herd of cows. Time for a run.

Chapter 10:

I quickly attempted to slide through the undercarraige of the Guardian. Why was I being so reckless? I succeeded and got up at the other end in a split second. The run was fuelled by fear and adrenaline. Then I saw my salvation. A hole in the wall that looked like an elevator shaft. 'I could slide down the steel rope, couldn't I?' I thought. I still didn't know if there was even a steel rope there but I went for it. I daringly jumped into the shaft and grabbed onto the rope. But this wasn't actually a rope.

 I felt a bit of a reeling upward. It was a barnicle. I pulled out my crowbar and wacked the barnacle with the sharp, bent end. It let go and that was when I quickly grabbed onto the next floor of the elevator. That puss-spewing thing had basically saved me from being torn alive by a monster. I pulled myself up and ran before that 'thing' could catch up. I saw it. Daylight. It was beautiful.

Chapter 11:

When I said daylight, that's what I thought. I mean it was daylight but the area was boarded up. Little did I know I would being seeing my big 'friend' soon. "Fucking hell!" You could tell I was annoyed. Now the Guardian was just sliding across the corner and I was in a state of thought. I didn't even notice him until he roared at me and charged. That was when I got the brainwave. I jumped out of the way at the first sight of him charging at me. It blasted the boards off with sheer force and I ran out. There was my second salvation. A thumper with metal girders welded around it. I ran in, smacked the button and waited for it to take effect. The huge bastard was scared of the thumping and ran away like all other antlions do. The adrenaline wore off and I remembered about John. "Bloody hell, John didn't have a chance." Then my radio crackled to life. "Yo, anyone out there?" It was that overly hyper Emma girl. "Thank god! I thought I lost you back at base!" I replied with a huge happiness. "So, where's John?" I was silent and then sighed. "Oh......I'm so sorry." She was being so sympathetic even though she knew him more than I did. "What's your position? I'll pick you up." She was sounding really quite sad. "Uhmmmm......Some Antlion hive, this place looks like a valley outside it. There's a bridge too and an entrance to what looks like a mine."
"Got it. I'm coming right now."

10 hours passed and no sighting of Emma. Then around the corner came a rusty old jeep. Emma was in it. "Hey Dion. Sorry about John." I looked close to tears and Emma just got out and gave me a spontaneous hug. I just felt awkward then. "Uhhhh.......Emma?" I asked.
"Yeah?" Emma replied. She was still hugging me.
"Aren't we next to an antlion hive?"
"Oh, crap your right. Get in." I jumped in the passenger side and Emma jumped in the driver's seat and sped off in the opposite direction.

Chapter 12:

I was just relieved to be outside of one of those danger zones. "So, where did you go, Emma?" I queried. "I went with Sasha to the City 8 canals. It wasn't easy but we stayed alive. How about you?" She replied.
"Me and John went to Ravenholm in search of Father Grigori and ended up being kidnapped by some antlions that's when I freed myself, got out and found you radioing me."
"You went looking for Grigori? Why?"
"I dunno, John wanted to."
"You know that religious madman is off his rocker, right?"
"I guessed. But he was our only chance. If not for him, me and John would have been already dead."
Just as I answered that we finally got to the new base.


Chapter 13:

"So, here we are." Emma said, she then sighed.
"What's wrong?" I asked in a caring way
"It's going to be hell telling everyone about John."
"I'll do it. I saw him pass, I am the one who can explain it better."
"Thanks Dion, your a great guy." She wasn't being a hyper little fur-ball like she was before. She was being mature, sensible and composed. It was a little distressing seeing her like this. I walked inside through the cave entrance disguised as an abandoned mine with Emma. I wasn't going to expect what I was about to see.

Everything was pitch black in the meeting room. I flicked on the light and everyone I knew and some that I didn't popped out and shouted "Welcome back, John and Dion!" All of a sudden I stopped and my lip quivered. I was having the symptoms of trying to break bad news for the first time. I quickly pulled my self together and said something really quickly. "John is dead." I was close to tears and everyone was starting to as well. I wasn't the best at breaking the news, I was basically the kind of 'rip off the plaster' sort of guy.

"Wha-what......" Sasha was one of the most shocked. "But I saw him just last night, he's not gone. He isn't!"
"I'm sorry. He died in a noble way though. He died in action."
"That can't be right! He always comes back, always!" Tears were running down her face. It was just sadening to even look at her broken smile. A small bit of her was dying and it was trying to bring her whole being with it.
"I'm sorry, he died like a Rebel. He did it with a leaving mark. His last thing togive me was this crowbar." I then pulled it out. "If you want it as remembrance of him, I understand." I just felt like falling and bearing tears, I didn't physically have it in me.

"Don't try to make this alright, this is not alright!" She was so broken down it looked like she was about to lose her will to live.
"I promise, I will tell you the truth, ask me anything." I was so desperate I would try anything.
"What were his last words?" This was a bloody tough one. I had to make something up about her to make her stop crying.
"He said 'Sasha is the red apple on my granny smith tree, take care of her.'" I can't believe I did that!
"But, we weren't going out. How?" I was getting into a place i couldn't dig out of.
"He loved you, he told me before I got out." Then Sasha passed by me and Emma and sprinted to her room in tears.

Chapter 14:

It's the night after the revealing. Everyone is in their beds. I am too. I'm just laying there thinking about John at his final moments and Sasha just before. They weren't too different. They were both clinging onto their last breaths, they both were losing the will to live and they were both great people. The silence was both calm and hectic at the same time. Then that silence was broken. A truly enraged man kicked open my door and pointed a loaded shotgun at my head. "I know you could of done something! Now spill it, you killed John!" I put my hands up.
"I didn't kill him." Everyone was crowding around the guest room where I was staying.
"What are you doing Hank!?" I heard Emma say.
"This bastard killed John, I'm returning the favor!" I was scared so much I was shivering. A girl came from the back and tackled Hank, I was impressed and relieved.

"This guy is clearly been doing the magic syrup again, take him to the cell for a night to cool off." The girl looked a bit more commanding than any member I've seen. I mean, she had sunglasses! "Sorry about Hank, he's a little..........frisky when he's been drinking.
"It's alright, I've been through worse." I haven't been through worse than a hostage situation!

This place is nuts!


Chapter 15:

Monday morning, the dreaded monday blues. I was sitting at the table with my cheese toasty. Then the woman that 'saved' me from Hank the night before strolled in looking unphased from last night. "Hey, you're the guy that was pointed a gun at by Hank, right?"
"Yes.......why?" I was acting pretty rude, I did get a shotgun pointed at me at night.
"No reason, just wanted to see if you were okay. Anywho, I'm Alexsis, I run this camp."
"You are set up near an Antlion hive?!"
"I didn't know we were. You just came from one last night, didn't you?"
"Yeah, I saw things I can't unsee.'
"Sorry about that. Welcome to the camp. Training's at 10 outside, by the way." She walked off with a mug of coffee in her hand and a cheery look on her face. I sat there untill, at 10, I got up and set off to go outside.

Chapter 16:

There was an assault course set up and the rusty thumpers I saw the night before were on. I just observed from the sidelines. Then Alexsis walked over to me.
"Why aren't you doing it?You should be physically fit for when we get in to attacks."
"I think I did enough running from a Guardian."
"What?! You managed to out run a Guardian? How?" She seemed genuinely interested.
"I managed to get out of the mine using the Guardian itself as a battering ram, I ran to a thumper and turned it on. Then Emma radioed and I answered."
"That must have been heart pounding." I just nodded, she walked off, and I went inside.


I was just sitting on my bed, looking at my old life through my head. I tried thinking of the time the Combine shot my family down but I just couldn't think of it. It couldn't be, I couldn't have forgotten that. It was a little weird to see combine shoot a full family down too. There was something I needed to know, are they still alive? How I can find it, no idea. Then Ithought, where were they supposed to have been killed? Then I got the answer, eastern europe. But I'm going to need some help. I went outside and saw the drill was coming to an end. But then I noticed something no one else did, a pack of Antlions had gathered near the thumpers.
"Alexsis!" I yelled. I sprinted to her. "We have Antlions!"
"Oh, I know. I made them come, we have a little research project here."
"What?" She then alked inside and signalled me to follow her, so I did. We came to a dead end. She then put her hand into this gap in the pieces of wood and fiddled a little, then the rock opened up. My jaw was dropped in amazement.
"We call this the BioLab." She walked in and down the stairs and I followed. "We take creatures from allover the wastelandsand put them in cages, may seem cruel. But, we can't take chances. We feed, praise and punish them accordingly and we at least attempt to domesticate them." I was still in amazement at the emmense size.
"But there are things here that don't even exist now!"
"Yep, we got bullsquids, Eyehounds and Vortigores. All extinct in nature. Let me show you our most promising subject." I followed her to a cage with an Antlion in the corner, oblivious to us, drinking water. Alexsis tapped the cage.
"Saviour, time to meet someone new." It looked at me and squeaked happily. Then Alexsis leaned to the cage's latch and opened it. She walked in and I followed.
"It's nowhere near to being a valueable addition to the team but it's a kind-of pet to us. We also captured a very new specimen." I followed her toa hug cage, it was almost completely dark. "Sloth, get up." She said, then I heard some clicking noises and some aggitated roars. Then a huge blob starting taking shape. It ran at the cage and when it came into the light I noticed it was a guardian. "Jesus christ! Don't you know this thing could bring down the base?!" Then one thing clicked into place. John's reason for going to Ravenholm.

This thing is getting more fucked up as I go along.


Time for the Finale. Welcome to the end....

Chapter 17:

A siren flashed and bullets were heard. The Combine were here, and it wasn't going to be pretty. There were us, them and the Antlions. I grabbed my MP7 and went to the surface. The scene was tense. Each side was trying their best to enter no man's land. We were stuck behind rocks by the OTA, OTAs were being ripped to shreds by the Antlions and we were mowing down the Antlions. Then the situation was broken. An Antlion Guard came out and crashed through the other Antlions. We were all joined in constant fire, OTA and Resistance alike. We were just trying to kill this thing. Then it was just our luck.

It seems that someone wanted some Vorts to come to repair the generator that was going down. They brought four right here. They noticed the state of battle and came over to our rock and crouched.
"We were informed that we were supposed to be fixing a generator?" One of the Vorts said.
"Yeah, well, we need a little favour from you guys now." Hank said, sarcastically.
"We shall do what we can." It got up and started shooting at the Antlions. They were exploding in a flurry of blood and guts. "Quickly! While the Vorts get the Antlions, get the Combine!" Hank shouted. So we all took his orders and aimed for the OTAs.

Chapter 18:

The battle was ending. The Combine had retreated. The Antlions began to calm down and go back to their nest, the ones that weren't in mid-battle. It was finally over. I put down my MP7 and stood up. I looked around, everyone else did so too. "Thank God. I thought we were dead." I said to Hank.
"If it wasn't for those Vorts, we would be." I looked suprised then. I looked at the amount of OTA and Antlions dead and then did one thing, and one thing only. Faint.

"Hey, Dion, you alright?" It was Hank. He must of dragged me into the medical bay when I was unconscious.
"What...... happened?....." I was still a little shaken up. I could talk, but not much else.
"It's alright, everything's good now." He then sighed in relief that I was okay.
"Can I get some sleep?" Hank just nodded and motioned for the others to come with him. Everyone who was there, about 5, left.

... of the beginning.

Well done for reading it all. That's about it. Time to leave ya' hangin'.